It’s always there. That pressure.
Do that thing. Build something. Make it count.
Live that moment. Try that something. Be there, in the now. Because no one is guaranteed a later.
Fight the good fights. Not the ugly ones. They seldom mean what we think they do. And are too often a slippery slope into bad things.
Make shit happen. Push that damn airplane out every night. Come home stinking of jet exhaust and sweat. Kiss a pretty girl. The one strong enough to have domesticated the feral fox.
Well, mostly.
I sometimes forget to take out the bin. Even after several gentle reminders.
I occasionally rumble the walls with my nightly gaseous emmissions.
I can be sensitive. And, abrasive. Often difficult. Usually somewhere on the annoying side of ridiculous.
But, she still loves me.
And I love her.
Wiggly co-conspirators. Playful partners. Just a couple of joyful goofballs fielding all the curve balls that Michigan can throw our way. And, doing a pretty damn good job of it.
Today was a good day. Tomorrow might be better. Yesterday holds no place in the equation. Because what’s done is done.
And, we can’t go back into the realm of what might have been.
So we push. And we plan. And just keep fucking going.
Little ones depend on us.
They look to us to set the pace. And to be the voice setting the tone.
Not a dial tone. But a vigorous, joyful noise echoing through the complications of a Clinton County meadow.
We can be that example; we should be that example. There is no greater calling; there is no higher cause.
Their successes will be our celebration. And their failures will be our catalyst to do better.
Because it’s always there. That pressure.
Failure is NOT an option. Not when it comes to them.
They are far away from a little red house tonight. Michigan isn’t underneath their little feet.
And, that hurts.
But, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t missed. Or, loved. Because it’s all been for them.
Every sacrifice. Every failed home-improvement project. Every effort to build up something from a blank canvas of two tea mugs, a kettle, and a dream.
I will do that thing; we will do all the things.
And we will help make their lives, and their experiences, extraordinary.
That will be our legacy.
And, it will be our greatest joy.
Because we love them more than anything. And want to make gentle the storms of their temporary discontentments amidst a backdrop of our complicated adult failings.
If we can accomplish that, we will have achieved something that is truly great. By doing the things that are ridiculously hard.
At the end of the day, that is what matters the most.
It’s always there. That pressure.
And, I wouldn’t have it any other way…
